Kentucky woman found guilty of fatally shooting boyfriend six times sentenced to life in prison

Shayna Hubers appears in court for her sentencing ini Newport, Ky. Hubers was sentenced to life in prison for killing her on-again, off-again boyfriend, Ryan Posten. She was convicted of murder in his slaying in August. (Albert Cesare / AP)

A Kentucky woman was sentenced to life behind bars for fatally shooting her on-and-off boyfriend six times in 2012.

A jury in August found Shayna Hubers, now 27, guilty in the slaying of 29-year-old Ryan Poston and recommend she spend the rest of her days in prison. Judge Daniel Zalla on Thursday agreed with the proposed sentence, labeling Hubers actions “grossly violent and intentionally calculated,” according to the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Advertisement

Hubers, who was 21 at the time, gunned down Poston inside his Highland Heights apartment on Oct. 12, 2012 — the same night he’d scheduled a date with the reigning Miss Ohio. He’d been dating Hubers on and off for about a year before the shooting and prosecutors contended he’d been seeking to end their relationship for good.

During her time on the stand, Hubers claimed Poston was abusive and pressured her to perform sex acts, though prosecutors dug into lengthy texts between the couple in a bid to disprove her claims. Her attorney, David Eldridge, said his client has changed in the six years since the incident and that she took responsibility by phoning 911 immediately after the fatal confrontation.

“She told them (police) what she did, much to her detriment,” he told jurors.

During the trial, jurors watched a video of Hubers in an interview room at the Highland Heights Police Department, just hours after the fatal shooting.

“I did it. Yes. I did it,” she chanted while waving her fingers in the air. “I can’t believe I did that.”

Eldridge also suggested that she could prove a good candidate for successful treatment for her borderline personality disorder, arguing during the trial that she was an “immature and mentally ill young woman.”

The commonwealth’s attorney, Michelle Snodgrass, said Hubers apologized for killing Poston in a typed letter to the judge ahead of sentencing, noting however, that she’d never reached out to her victim’s loved ones.

“She has never said that to Ryan’s family,” she said. “She has expressed no remorse.”

Jay Poston, the victim’s father asked the Campbell Circuit Court judge to do everything in his power to prevent Huber’s release from jail for as long as possible, according to the Enquirer.

“Evil, for reasons only evil knows, took it upon herself to take from us that which she could never posses,” he said.

A jury in 2015 previously found Hubers guilty in her sometimes-boyfriend’s murder and she was sentenced to 40 years in prison — but it was overturned after it was revealed one of the members of the panel was a convicted felon.

Snodgrass slammed the length of the process and said the Poston family has been waiting much too long for their justice.

“It’s been six years and two trials they had to sit in the courtroom,” she said.

Hubers will be eligible for parole in 14 years, as she has already served six years in jail.